*Sweet Dreams

Intro: It’s nearly Halloween. Time for something a bit different. I don’t normally write horror/paranormal so forgive me if it isn’t as emotionally straining as you would typically expect.

The green expanse of hills stretched forth under my gaze. I sat, perched atop a large granite rock taking in the scenery listening to the sounds of birds flying overhead. This would be a good place to rest. My fingers plucked at the fabric of my trousers, covering the sleek phone engraved with a pentagram that rested there. Throwing it onto the rocks below would definitely be satisfying, for a brief moment. Was it worth the trouble later? I glanced at the blue moon, cresting over the next rise.

An awful electronic melody screeched, deleting the memory of the musical birds. I pulled out the phone. It was nothing more than a text message.

Harvey, come home.

My long black coat rippled in the wind as I made my way down the mountain side to the small village below. I could travel even further than I could before. Surprising, since I was nothing more than a figment of someone’s imagination. I was dubbed a personal pooka a servant to shield from the terrors of the night. Who needs a Jeeves? Before even reaching the bottom of the mountain, my coat of fabric had been replaced by thick black fur. The phone now imbedded in my head as my summoning link to the master.

Where are you?

At least when I didn’t have the phone, I didn’t have to hear the incessant ringtone which was impossible to change. I jumped up on my hind legs and pressed the bell to the rental my master was staying in. The real Jeeves of the household let me in.

He didn’t even look at me as he shut the door. There was no reason he would. I’m a figment of a deranged imagination visible only to the sick mind who dredged me up. Up the stairs, around the corner, up even more stairs, to the middle floor of the mansion. It was an uncanny ability, but not unexpected, always knowing where the master was located. He lounged in the library, a book newspaper propped on his legs. The large window behind his chair looked out to the east, over the town.

What took you so long?

I flopped on the floor next to his feet. It was my nightly duty to see to his dreams. Nightmares that plagued his sleep I consumed and kept away from him. He was nothing more than a weak willed necromancer. The butler glided smoothly into the room, pushing a trolley.

“You’re lunch, sir.”

“Thanks, Jeeves.” The master replied, rubbing his hands together.

I wasn’t around when he summoned the newest butler. It wouldn’t surprise me if he looked for the most proper looking English gentleman he could just for the opportunity to call him that ridiculous name. When I arrived, I was ordered to take the form of a white rabbit. I refused.

Harvey.

I tilted my head to the side and looked up at him with one yellow eye.

What do you think of Ireland so far?

“Fine, maybe you could release me into the wild here.” I replied drily. The words forming easily even in the canine snout. “You could consider it your good deed for the day.”

And maybe I’ll just send you back to the eternal Hell.

I closed my eyes and didn’t reply. My Hell did not burn; it merely existed to show me what I couldn’t have. Burning would have been a comfort.

“Is there anything else you need, sir?” Jeeves asked.

Just a piece of the nearest virgin’s soul, and perhaps some blood from a seventh son of a seventh son. I yawned biting the end off with a snap of my jaws. If I wanted to share, the master still wouldn’t hear my thoughts. That was what human speech was for. I was a part of him. He was no part of me.

Jeeves bustled around the trolley. Even if he had feet, he wouldn’t have stepped on me. The advantage to spirits as household personal, they never left a mess of their own by having dirty shoes.

“You can go.” The master said with a wave of his hand.

Jeeves bowed and left through the wall. A handy skill to be sure.

I glanced outside admiring the small town basking in the moonlight. Beautiful, silver, powerful moonlight. The time was right.

Harvey, I—

His voice cut off as I stood, the black coat flapping around my ankles. Light from a blue moon, powerful enough to bring nightmares to life. My golden eyes flecked to red as I advanced on the half-wit of a necromancer. I held up the small silver phone embossed with a pentagram and crushed it in my gloved hand. His weak connection severed as the pieces fell from my fingers.

“Shall I show you Hell?”

“But you’re a pooka.” He stammered falling out of his chair.

“You summoned something far worse.”

“What?” The word shrieked out of him as I moved even closer.

“Yourself. The self of nightmares.”

His screams brought Jeeves floating to the room a few minutes later.

“Sir?”

Sitting comfortably in the chair, I deposited the newspaper on the floor motioning to a large garbage bag in the corner. “Take that out to the trash.”

“Of course, Sir.” Jeeves said picking up the bag and moving to the door. The bag sloshed with the motion.

The door shut. I leaned back in the chair closing my eyes and drifted into a peaceful sleep full of the horrors I’d collected.